Learn four-on-the-floor finger drumming, one part at a time
House is the easiest groove to describe and the most revealing to play: a kick on every beat, a hat on every offbeat, and any unevenness in either hand is audible at once. This page builds it a part at a time, and the thing it teaches - one hand keeping time while the other fills the gaps - is the foundation of everything else here.
How this page teaches
The whole groove is already in the machine - open EDIT and it is there on the grid, 2 bars of it. The LEARN panel takes it a part at a time, in 6 steps. Press LISTEN and the part you are learning plays, with the pads lighting as it goes and everything you have already learned running underneath it. Press YOUR TURN and that part goes silent: the loop keeps going, you play the part yourself, and every pass of the loop is scored - hits landed, hits missed, extra hits, and how far off the grid you were. Two clean passes in a row and the step is yours; NEXT adds the next part on top of what you can already play.
The tempo buttons (100, 112, 124, 130) are the most important control here. Learn each part slow, bring it up one notch at a time, and only play the last step at full speed once the one before it is clean at full speed. Your place is remembered, so come back tomorrow and the step you were on is waiting.
Hands
The pads are the same shape as the keyboard: Z X C V along the bottom, A S D F above, Q W E R above that, 1 2 3 4 on top. Each step names its pads and keys, and the pads it wants are ringed on the grid. Play quietly by default - every pad reads velocity, and the quiet parts are supposed to be quiet. If a hit lights the pad bright white, that was a loud one.
The steps
1. The kick
Every beat. Four in a bar, eight over the loop. Left index on Z.
The whole style is named after this. Play it against the click until your kick and the click are one sound - a four-on-the-floor that wavers is a dance floor that wavers.
2. The open hat
Every offbeat - the "&" between the kicks. Right hand on D.
Boots and cats. The hat never lands with the kick, always exactly between two of them, so the left hand keeps time and the right hand fills the gap. This is the independence every other house part is built on.
3. Kick and hat together
Both hands, alternating, only the click underneath.
Sixteen alternating hits. If it falls apart, play it slower rather than louder: an even boots-and-cats at 100 is worth more than a lumpy one at 124.
4. The clap
Beats 2 and 4, on X - with a kick, never instead of one.
The clap lands on top of the second and fourth kick, so for a beat your left hand and your right hand hit together. That coincidence is the backbeat of house; give it a little more weight than the kicks around it.
5. The shaker
The "a" of every beat, just before each kick. F, played lightly.
A shaker on the last 16th of every beat is what makes a straight house loop roll instead of march. Quiet, even, and slightly ahead of the kick it leads into.
6. Everything
Kick, hat, clap, shaker. Four pads, two hands, no help.
The full loop is thirty-two hits at 124 with the left hand doing nothing but the kick and the right hand doing everything else. Once this is clean, you can play house.
Other courses
- Learn Afrobeat finger drumming114 BPM · step by step · 7 parts · polyrhythm
- Learn boom bap finger drumming90 BPM · step by step · 7 parts · swing
- Learn dembow finger drumming96 BPM · step by step · 6 parts · tresillo
- Learn Dilla swing finger drumming87 BPM · step by step · 7 parts · feel
- Learn the half-time shuffle92 BPM · step by step · 8 parts · triplets
- Learn jungle finger drumming172 BPM · step by step · 8 parts · scored
- Learn trap finger drumming140 BPM · step by step · 7 parts · half-time
Related tools
- Drum pads online16 pads · any tempo
- Finger drumming practicepads · velocity · repeat
- Boom bap beat maker88-94 BPM · swung
- Amen break maker165 BPM · the real break
- Amapiano beat maker110-115 BPM · log drums
- Drill beat maker138-145 BPM · half-time
- Phonk beat maker130-160 BPM · cowbell
- Reggaeton beat maker90-100 BPM · dembow
- Afrobeat beat maker100-115 BPM · polyrhythm
- Beat maker gameplay it like a game
- Learn Afrobeat finger drummingstep by step · 7 parts · polyrhythm
- Learn boom bap finger drummingstep by step · 7 parts · swing
- Learn dembow finger drummingstep by step · 6 parts · tresillo
- Learn Dilla swing finger drummingstep by step · 7 parts · feel
- Learn the half-time shufflestep by step · 8 parts · triplets
- Learn jungle finger drummingstep by step · 8 parts · scored
- Learn trap finger drummingstep by step · 7 parts · half-time
BAP Studio is inspired by classic 16-pad sampler and drum-machine workflows. It is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Akai Professional, Roland, or any other manufacturer.
Made by Max Berggren.